THE GUIDE

Temple Emanu-El

The Emanu-El congregation, from which the synagogue takes its name, was founded in 1845 on the initiative of 33 German Jews. Initially small buildings were chosen as a place of worship but in 1868 was built a monumental building in neo-Moresque style, the old synagogue Emanu-El of New York now disappeared. In 1927, the community met Beth-El and the following year the construction of the new synagogue began. The project was entrusted to the architects Clarence Stein, Robert D. Kohn and Charles Butler who proposed a large building in Romanesque Revival style, capable of accommodating 2,500 people, which in fact made it one of the largest synagogues in the world.
The exterior is dominated by the façade with an enormous concave arch surmounted by the Oliver Smith’s rose window and the bell tower at the back. The interior is characterized by the central nave, almost 32 m high, and by the front wall with the same motif as the external concave arch.
It was inaugurated on January 10, 1930 with the participation of over 2,500 people, while on July 15, 1937 a crowd of over 4,500 people, including the mayor of New York Fiorello La Guardia and many personalities of New York politics and culture, gathered for the funeral of the composer George Gershwin. Other significant ceremonies were held on March 25, 1945, in honor of the Armed Forces, in 1973 in memory of the thirtieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and in 2002 in honor of the police and firefighters engaged during the attack on the Twin Towers.
Between 2003 and 2006, the synagogue underwent major restoration and modernization work.

References

Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. p. 1289
History (Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York)
Self-guide brochure (Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York)
Congregation Emanu-El of New York (Wikipedia)